Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala co-leads $2.25 billion investment in self-driving car company Waymo

Mubadala, the Emirati sovereign wealth fund has co-led the $2.25 billion investment in Waymo, the self-driving company that is owned by Google’s parent Alphabet. It is the first-ever external investment round by Waymo that had started in 2009 as Google’s self-driving car project.

The round that was co-led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company also included Magna International, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, and Alphabet (itself) as investors.

Waymo did not share any details about the valuation but Morgan Stanley, according to CNBC, last year had valued the company at $105 billion.

The company that is the leader in self-driving technology has accumulated over 20 million miles on public roads across 25 cities in the United States and over 10 billion miles in simulation. Waymo One, company’s public self-driving ride-hailing service, the first of its kind currently operates in some areas of Phoenix and Arizona area. Waymo is also testing a delivery called Waymo Via service powered by its technology Waymo Driver. self-driving minivans.

John Krafcik, CEO, Waymo, commenting on the investment, said, “We’ve always approached our mission as a team sport, collaborating with our OEM and supplier partners, our operations partners, and the communities we serve to build and deploy the world’s most experienced driver. Today, we’re expanding that team, adding financial investors and important strategic partners who bring decades of experience investing in and supporting successful technology companies building transformative products.”

“With this injection of capital and business acumen, alongside Alphabet, we’ll deepen our investment in our people, our technology, and our operations, all in support of the deployment of the Waymo Driver around the world,” he added.

Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Mubadala’s Deputy Group CEO and CEO of Alternative Investments and Infrastructure, said, “The investment in Waymo, and partnership with Alphabet, is based on our conviction that autonomous technologies will revolutionize mobility and transportation over the next decade. In addition to partnering with one of the world’s leading technology companies, this is about investing and backing one of the strongest management and technical teams in the industry.”